Convertible chair



March 30, 1965 v. TCHERNIAVSKY 3,175,861

CONVERTIBLE CHAIR Filed Jan. 8, 1964 g"? Fisxl 9 4a 2e 5 4 f 26 g United States Patent 3,175,861 CONVERTIBLE CHAIR Victor Tcherniavsky, 1944 University Ave., Palo Alto, Calif. Filed Jan. 8, 1964, Ser. No. 336,567 8 Claims. (Cl. 29793) This invention relates to a novel chair structure and more particularly to an improved chair construction enabling the chair to be selectively disposed in a plurality of positions.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my application Serial Number 126,838, filed July 18, 1961, now abandoned.

It will be appreciated that in modern housing, and especially in housing of the apartment type, that space is usually at a premium, and quite often a single room must have dual or even triple use. For example in a typical efficiency apartment, one room may serve as a living room, a dining room and a bedroom. As a consequence it is advantageous to have articles of furniture which may be selectively converted from one use to the other.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a multi-purpose chair which can be selectively disposed in one position in which it is usable as an easy chair for the living room, and in another position in which it is usable as a chair for a dining room.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a chair which may be reversed in position to face either way merely by moving the combined seat and back part without disturbing the statonary support. This enables the chair to be particularly useful in vehicles which are driven in two directions, as for example in railway passenger cars.

A further object of my invention is to provide a chair which is structurally rugged, simple in design, inexpensive to manufacture and capable of conversion with relative ease.

Other and further objects and advantages will be apparent from the following more detailed description and by reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side view of one embodiment of a chair assembly, according to the invention, in which the seat and back unit is illustrated in a position midway between its two limit positions.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a further embodiment of a convertible chair, according to the invention, provided with arm rests.

Referring first to FIG. 1, there is shown a chair assembly comprised of two main components, a combined seat and back unit 1 and a support 2 therefor. The unit 1 is comprised of a unitary structure having angularly related rigidly interconnected wing sections 1a and 1b. The section 1a is longer than the section 1b. The base or support 2 is comprised of upstanding legs 2b and 2g connected to each other by stringers 2a. The oppositely disposed legs 2b (only one of which is shown) are connected to each other by a cross member 22 while the oppositely disposed legs 2g are connected to each other by a cross member 2f. Leg member 2b terminates at a level corresponding substantially to the top level of stringer 2a. Leg member 2g extends beyond the top level of stringer 2a and terminates at a point thereabove.

For the purpose of connecting the seat-back unit 1 to the support 2 there is provided a movable linkage system, comprised of a long link 3 and a shorter link 8. Since FIG. 1 is a sectional view through the chair, only the links at one side of the chair are shown. It is to be understood that in the complete chair there are similar supporting links at each side.

Link 3 is pivotally connected at one end to the base 2 3,175,861 Patented Mar. 30, 1965 at the juncture of members 2:: and 2b by a transversely extending pivot rod 4a. At its other end, link 3 is connected to the longer section 1a of the seat-back unit 1 by a pivot pin 4. It is to be noted that pivot pin 4 is located at a point displaced from the juncture of wing sections 1a and 1b. The shorter link 8 is pivotally connected at one end to the portion of leg 2g which is extended above the stringer 2a, by a pivot element 9. Link 8 is pivotally connected at its other end by a pivot element 10 to the shorter wing section 1b. Pivot points 4 and 10 are located at different distances from the juncture of the two sections 1a and 1b, with pivot point 4 being closer to the said juncture. Pivoted latch members 20 and 11 are provided to hold the seat firmly.

In order to facilitate conversions of the seat back unit from one position to the other, a spring element 14 is mounted on rod 4a, and has one arm reacting on cross member 2e and another arm reacting on part 15 of link 3.

As shown in FIG. 1 the seat-back unit is midway between its two extreme positions, which are shown in broken lines. In the easy chair position, wing section 16 is substantially upright (at the right in FIG. 1) while wing section 1a is substantially horizontal with its lower portion at the level of the top of leg 2!) and stringer 2a. In this position the latch 11 engages an opening in section 1!). In the dining chair position, section 1a is substantially upright (at the left in FIG. 1) while section 1b is substantially horizontal with its lower portion at the level of the top of leg 23. The parts are locked in this position by the engagement of latch 20 with link 3.

The stringer 2a is disposed at an inclination to the horizontal and is connected to leg 2b at a point which is higher than the connection of the stringer to the leg 2g. With this arrangement the appearance of the chair assembly is more like that of an easy chair when section 1a is in the seat position.

In order to swing the seat-back from one position to the other it is a simple matter to release one latch or the other and then to grasp the seat-back unit at any appropriate place to move the same.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 the seat-back unit is swingably mounted on the base 2 by links 3, 8 which have pivot connections 4, 4a and 9, 10 with the seat-back unit and the supporting base. In this embodiment the leg members 2b and 2g are both extended upwardly beyond the stringer 2a and are connected by an arm rest 12.

Various modifications of the present invention will occur to those skilled in the art, and it should be understood that the invention is inclusive of all modifications and equivalents falling within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a convertible chair assembly, a seat-back unit comprising rigidly interconnected wing sections disposed at an angle to one another, one of said wing sections being longer than the other, supporting structure for said seat-back unit having spaced ground engaging legs connected by a stringer, one of said legs terminating at the stringer and the other leg extending above the stringer, link members movably connecting the seat-back unit to the supporting structure, one of said link members being longer than the other, the longer link member being pivotally connected at one end to the supporting structure adjacent the leg which terminates at the stringer and pivotally connected at its other end to the longer wing of the seat back unit, the other link member being pivotally connected at one end to the upper end of the leg which extends above the stringer and being pivotally connected at its other end to the shorter wing of the seatback unit.

2. A convertible chair assembly as in claim 1 in which the longer link is connected to the longer wing section at a point spaced from the juncture of the two wing sections. i i

3. A convertible chair assembly as in claim 2 in which the shorter link is connected to the shorter wing section at a point spaced from the juncture of the two wing sections.

4. A convertible chair assembly as in claim 1 having a spring element mounted on the pivot connecting one link to the supporting structure, said spring element having arms reacting on the associated link and the supporting structure to bias the seat-back unit in one direction.

5. A convertible chair assembly as in claim 1 having a latch member pivoted on the stringer positioned to engage the longer link member in one position of the seat back unit.

6. A convertible chair assembly as in claim 5, having a latch member pivotally mounted on the supporting structure positioned to engage the shorter wing section in the other position of the seat-back unit.

7. A convertible chair assemble as in claim 1 in which the stringer is disposed at an inclination to the horizontal and its connection to the shorter leg is at a higher level than its connection to the longer leg.

8. In convertible chair assembly, a seat-back unit comprising rigidly interconnected wing sections disposed at an angle to one another, supporting structure for said seat-back unit having spaced supporting legs and a stringer connecting said legs, link members connecting the seat-back unit to the supporting structure for swinging movement from one position in which one of the wing sections serves as a seat while the other Wing section serves as a back, to another position in which the said one wing section serves as a back while the other wing section serves as a seat, one of said link members being longer than the other, each link member being connected at one end to the supporting structure and at the other end to the seat-back unit at a point between the juncture of the wing sections and the free end of the wing section, said link members both extending upwardly from their supporting structure pivot points when the seat-back unit is midway between its two extreme positions, and one of said link members extending horizontally while the other extends substantially vertically when the seat-back unit is in one extreme position.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 28,166 5/60 Ewing 297-93 130,011 7/72 Brooke 29793 259,954 6/82 Welsh et al. 29793 484,215 10/92 Matthiessen 297-93 2,480,552 8/49 Colvez 29793 2,858,880 11/58 Fox 297-93 3,012,817 12/61 Hendrickson et a1 29793 FOREIGN PATENTS 595,948 12/ 47 Great Britain.

720,659 12/54 Great Britain. 1,074,971 4/54 France. 1,127,506 8/56 France. 1,168,290 8/58 France.

FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Examiner. 

1. IN A CONVERTIBLE CHAIR ASSEMBLY, A SEAT-BACK UNIT COMPRISING RIGIDLY INTERCONNECTED WING SECTIONS DISPOSED AT AN ANGLE TO ONE ANOTHER, ONE OF SAID WING SECTIONS BEING LONGER THAN THE OTHER, SUPPORTING STRUCTURE FOR SAID SEAT-BACK UNIT HAVING SPACED GROUND ENGAGING LEGS CONNECTED BY A STRINGER, ONE OF SAID LEGS TERMINATING AT THE STRINGER AND THE OTHER LEG EXTENDING ABOVE THE STRINGER, LINK MEMBERS MOVABLY CONNECTING THE SEAT-BACK UNIT TO THE SUPPORTING STRUCTURE, ONE OF SAID LINK MEMBERS BEING LONGER THAN THE OTHER, THE LONGER LINK MEMBER BEING PIVOTALLY CONNECTED AT ONE END TO THE SUPPORTING STRUCTURE ADJACENT THE LEG WHICH TERMINATES AT THE STRINGER AND PIVOTALLY CONNECTED AT ITS OTHER END TO THE LONGER WING OF THE SEAT BACK UNIT, THE OTHER LINK MEMBER BEING PIVOTALLY CONNECTED AT ONE END TO THE UPPER END OF THE LEG WHICH EXTENDS ABOVE THE STRINGER AND BEING PIVOTALLY CONNECTED AT ITS OTHER END TO THE SHORTER WING OF THE SEATBACK UNIT. 